Читать книгу A Companion to Greek Warfare - Группа авторов - Страница 62

Rome came to Sicily in 264 when the Mamertines asked for help in fending off the attacks of Syracuse and Carthage against Messana, which they controlled. After liberating Messana, the commander Appius Claudius Caudex planned to besiege Syracuse, but King Hiero II agreed to pay a fine and to supply the Roman army during their following confrontation with Carthage. Although no literary source speaks of Sicilian participation during this, the First Punic War, allied locals certainly provided Rome manpower, logistics, and technical support. In western Sicily, many Greek foundations under Carthaginian hegemony were sacked and destroyed by the Romans, including Acragas, Selinus, and Heraclea Minoa. The treaty ending the First Punic War made them Roman subjects and left Syracuse autonomous (Polyb. 1.62.8). In 227, Roman praetor Gaius Flaminius was entrusted with the administration of Sicily.

A pro-Carthaginian faction in Syracuse, however, convinced the new king, Hieronymus, to ally himself with Carthage, at war with Rome since 218 (Polyb. 7.3.9). Although King Hieronymus and his allies fell victim to a palace intrigue (Diod. Sic. 26.15), the Romans prepared to conquer this last independent piece of Sicily. In 214, they attacked by sea and land. The powerful fortifications of Syracuse withstood this onslaught and the new battle equipment developed by Archimedes bolstered the defenders. The siege lasted two years before the Romans gained the upper hand (Polyb. 8.3–7). After they received news concerning a Syracusan festival to Artemis, they climbed the outer walls during the celebrations and thus improved their position.¹⁴ Seizing the rest of the city took several months more, and ended in the partial destruction of its buildings, the murder or enslavement of its citizens, and the transfer of its treasures to Rome (Polyb. 9.10). Under praetor Lucius Cincius Alimentus, Syracuse was incorporated into the Roman province of Sicilia.¹⁵